


I Will Be

by ShashaR



Category: The Hills Have Eyes (2006 2007)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29710233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShashaR/pseuds/ShashaR
Summary: After Lizard and Heaven have an argument, she packs up and leaves the hills with daughter Eden.





	I Will Be

“I will be, all that you want  
And get myself together  
'Cause you keep me from falling apart.” 

This fic is dedicated to my mother, my father, and my kokum. 

Kokum = “grandma” in Oji-Cree  
Shoom = “grandpa” in Oji-Cree  
Wasaya = Oji-Cree owned airline in Ontario  
MMIW = Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women 

The mutant sat at the kitchen table in the home he and Heaven shared.  
He was waiting for Heaven to come back from the gas station, where she took over after Jeb.  
The couple had been spending less and less time together. And when they were both at home, Heaven spent her free time tending to their daughter, Eden.  
Eden was a little girl of five years, with a cleft lip and the shiniest red hair and bluest eyes. She was adorable for a mutant, a perfect mix of Heaven and Lizard. 

Everyone in the family dotted on Eden.  
Ruby would play dress up with the little mutant, and sometimes they’d do each other’s hair – using Heaven’s old hair accessories.  
Goggle would play hide and seek with Eden right in the middle of the village.  
Cyst would play doctor and patient with her. Eden always played as the doctor and Cyst as the patient.  
The older children Venus and Mercury would play tag with her and just about any other game.  
Big Brain and Eden would recite nursery rhymes and sing short songs–in front of Heaven.  
Sometimes Lizard would be part of their audience. On those special occasions, Eden tried to stand a little taller and make her voice clearer and louder.  
And each time Papa Jupiter saw Eden, he’d pick her up and swing her around as she laughed and clapped her hands, her red ringlets bouncing against her head. If Mama saw this, she’d playfully scold Jupiter for going too fast.  
Pluto would carry Eden around on his back, and of course Mama would call out, “be careful with her!” 

The door opened, and stepped in Heaven and Eden. Heaven had picked her up from Ruby’s. She was a proud aunt and happily babysat Eden when the time came.  
“Hi,” Heaven chirped.  
Lizard was unamused. “Heaven, we’ll talk alone. Eden, go to ya room.”  
Eden nodded and skipped to her room.  
She was about to play with her toys that were on the wooden floor when the shouting match began. Eden jumped onto her bed and quickly hid under the covers. 

Heaven had gone silent, sinking to the floor. Her body shook with sobs. Lizard stared down at her with disapproval, shaking his head.  
She then realized how much she missed her family. Her own family.  
She knew what was going to be her decision.  
Heaven took a deep breath and slowly got up from the wooden floor. Her face was red and her clenched fists stayed at her sides.  
“I’m leaving with Eden.”  
“No you ain’t! You ain’t ever leavin this place!”  
“That’s falling on ears that aren’t listening. And it’s a much needed break. When are we going to come back? I don’t know.”  
Heaven calmly walked to their bedroom and pulled out the backpacks. She ignored the sounds of angry stomping and the slam of a door and made her way into Eden’s room. Gently, she opened the door and saw that Eden was hiding under her covers.  
“Eden, baby, are you okay?”  
Heaven sat down on the bed, gently rubbing Eden’s back. “Daddy scares me.” she whispered.  
Heaven understood this all too well. She tried her best to show a brave face in front of Eden. She kissed her daughter’s sweet face.  
“Yes, I know. It’s okay. It’s okay to be scared. But I don’t want you to be scared all the time.”  
Eden nodded and smiled a little.  
“You know, we’re going on a trip. You’re going to meet your other grandparents. Your kokum and your shoom. They’re my mama and daddy.” 

That night, Lizard still hadn’t returned home. Heaven had packed up and written a note to the family, telling them not to worry and promising she and Eden will return sooner or later.  
Heaven buckled Eden in her seatbelt and then drove one of the cars the family kept down to the gas station.  
Once there, they exited the vehicle to grab some cash from inside the cash register in the gas station and then they made their way into another vehicle. That vehicle was going to be their way out of the desert.  
“We’ll come back. It’s not forever.”

Heaven had parked the vehicle in the parking lot of a rundown motel of which she did not care to learn the name of. Eden had fallen asleep in the back seat after their dinner, which was from a drive-through at a McDonald’s.  
Heaven had long forgotten how good chicken nuggets tasted. She hadn’t eaten any after becoming a vegan. That was her life before the hills.  
The hills had changed her in so many ways, good and bad. It was no place to sustain a vegan lifestyle; the gas station did not sell fresh fruits and vegetables, and in that environment it was extremely hard to grow goods.  
When the sun rose, Eden was still sound asleep. Heaven decided that she was going to contact her parents.  
Heaven still remembered her Facebook password clearly and logged on without problem. She had many notifications and messages. When she scrolled down her profile, she was shocked to learn that there had been a missing persons group page for her. Thousands of members and the wall was full of prayers and support messages for her family.  
And not only that, there were news articles about her disappearance and a $10,000 reward for her return.  
“Oh my,” Heaven muttered. A strange, sudden wave of guilt came to her.  
She did not bother to read her inbox messages, the next thing she did was call her father on FaceTime.  
Her father accepted the call, expecting it to be a cruel prank and wanting to confront the culprit. He had given up hope long ago, believing that Heaven was dead. But shock hit him when he saw his beautiful daughter on the other end.  
“Heaven?”  
“Yes, it’s me. I’m alive.” Heaven smiled at her father. “I have been doing well. Where’s mom?”

That afternoon Heaven and Eden checked into the nicest, nearest hotel with the money Heaven’s father had sent.  
Eden was so amazed of the hotel interior, the carpet in the lobby, and the paintings that hung up on the walls. It was a whole new world to her.  
Heaven noticed the stares her daughter had gotten. She was grateful Eden did not notice them. She was too focused on the sights she had never seen before to notice other people’s stares of curiosity and disgust.  
Heaven’s heart raced as she again thought of reuniting with her parents. They were flying down and they should be there within a few days.  
They don’t know about their granddaughter yet. Their mutant granddaughter.  
Heaven kissed Eden’s chubby hand and looked straight into her big blue eyes. “Eden, sweetie, you’ve got to promise me you won’t talk about your daddy and his family and the hills to them. Or else they’ll get in big trouble.”  
“Okay, mommy. I promise.”  
Again Heaven felt so torn and conflicted. The Sawney Beans of the New Mexico hills kill and cannibalize.  
Heaven shared Ruby’s views: she did not agree with it.  
But at the same time, she loved her in-laws. She wouldn’t betray them for the world.  
And she was so grateful Eden did not ask question after question, giving her more time on how to explain in the future. She knew questions will be asked.

Heaven paced around the hotel lobby. Eden sat down on one of the fine lounge chairs.  
Heaven’s parents, Mason and Annika, had finally flown in and they were on their way to the hotel.  
Heaven moved closer to Eden and rested her hand on her shoulders.  
“Remember what I told you?”  
“Yes, mommy,” Eden spoke quieter. “Don’t talk about daddy and his family.”  
Heaven nodded. “Yes, good girl. You’re great at remembering things.”  
The sound of the doors opening was heard and Heaven’s parents walked in.  
Heaven ran up to her parents.  
“Mom! Dad!” Heaven called out.  
“Heaven!” exclaimed her tearful mother.  
Her father Mason still could not believe his eyes, but it was unmistakably his daughter, her red hair was cut shorter and her figure was fuller, and now in her twenties.  
Heaven pulled her parents into a tight, loving embrace as if there was no tomorrow.  
“I’ve missed you.” Heaven whispered.  
“Us too, baby. Us too.” her mother replied. “I always knew you were alive.”  
Her father looked away in guilt, he did not believe the same thing as her mother. He believed Heaven was dead and he wanted to move on from the “tragedy.”  
Annika had been in touch with a medicine man back home. The medicine man told Annika he saw Heaven alive and well, living in a rundown house somewhere in the desert.  
Even before that, Annika knew Heaven was alive. With their hearts, mothers always know.  
“And I have someone special here to meet you. You guys are a kokum and shoom now. Meet Eden, my daughter.”  
Heaven turned to the little redhead girl with a cleft lip.  
Annika wiped her tears as she looked at the little girl.  
Having her own children was indeed special, but a grandchild.. nothing else could compare to this.  
Annika was overwhelmed, seeing that sweet chubby face of her first grandchild–so full of innocence.  
Mason ran up to Eden and hugged her tightly and lovingly as he did Heaven.  
“Eden, my god. A name as beautiful as you.” said Mason.  
Heaven was happy to know that Eden’s kokum and shoom did not shy away from her because of her deformity. They loved Eden regardless.  
Annika and Mason looked at each other and laughed.  
“You know, Heaven. When you were little, me and your mother used to joke that out of our children you’d be the first to become a parent. How true it came to be!” admitted Mason. 

When the Parks stepped off Wasaya Airways at the airport of their First Nation reserve, they were met with a cheering crowd, some of them holding signs that said, “WELCOME HOME!”  
The crowd became louder as Heaven stepped off. They were full of joy to see that this beautiful, previously-missing girl was found alive and well. How so grateful they were that one of their own wasn’t simply another MMIW.  
Again the little Sawney Bean with them had received stares of confusion and shock from the crowd.  
“I pray Eden doesn’t notice them, please..” thought Heaven. 

After the many hugs and kisses from her people, Heaven and her family rode home.  
Heaven was glad to see her land again. The white spruce trees, the many lakes that surrounded their reserve.  
“See, Eden. This is where I grew up.” said Heaven. Eden looked outside the passenger window with wide eyes. This place was just as isolated, but more lively than the hills. And not to mention a lot less violent. The last serious crime committed being over ten years ago. It was a safe community. 

After their dinner, Heaven took Eden for a short walk. It was still sunny out.  
“There’s finally a beach you can play on. Swim in the water like you see the girls on tv do.” said Heaven, holding Eden’s hand as they walked. Eden had a look of wonder in her blue eyes. The air smelled so fresh unlike in the hills.  
Heaven pointed towards a tall, wide tree with many thick branches.  
“Look Eden. See that tree?”  
“Oh, yes! wow!”  
It was so much taller than the tallest boulder in the hills.  
“That’s the tree I helped save.”  
Eden looked at her mother in amazement. “Really? How?”  
“Some guys were going to chop it down. Me and my friends climbed up to the branches and we wouldn’t dare come back down until they changed their minds.” Heaven laughed. “They threatened to chop it down with all of us on it. It was nothing but a scare tactic. It was that and meet up with a lot of angry parents!”  
“Oh, wow, wow. I am glad you and your friends saved this tree. Trees are good.”  
“Yes, I am glad, too. Eden baby, let’s walk back home.”


End file.
